What Did the Ancestor of All Flowers Look Like?

Tracing back the genetic tree of flowering plants millions of years, scientists recreate the predecessor of Earth’s flowers

By Ben Panko

smithsonian.com

Some 140 million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, the ancestor of all flowering plants likely blossomed. But their delcate forms aren’t easily preserved, leaving scientists wondering: What did these first blooms look like? 

Now, using some genetic detective work, scientists have recreated one possibility. And it looks vaguely like a magnolia….